Ally Sheedy

Living in the spotlight after being pigeon-holed with an unfair label was no easy task for any actress, yet Gen-X favorite Ally Sheedy succeeded in breaking away from the pack. She first rose to fame...
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The Breakfast Club stars team up for South by Southwest reunion

By:
WENN.com
Mar 16, 2015

Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy relived their youth at the South by Southwest festival in Texas on Monday (16Mar15) by teaming up to host a 30th anniversary launch of John Hughes high school classic The Breakfast Club. The two actresses greeted fans at the Paramount Theatre in Austin prior to a question-and-answer session about the 1985 film. Their appearance was in anticipation of a series of planned screenings for the film that will hit cinemas across America next week (begs23Mar15).
The remastered movie, which will be shown at select theaters on 26 and 31 March (15), will feature interviews with Sheedy and her co-stars Judd Nelson and Anthony Michael Hall.
Ringwald recently told America's Today show she's amazed the film is still a hit 30 years after its initial release: "I always loved the script, and I loved the movie, but I never imagined that we would be talking about it 30 years later."

Evan Rachel Wood and Rumer Willis are teaming up for a cabaret show based on the films of John Hughes.
The actresses will star in For the Record: Dear John Hughes, alongside Tracie Thoms and Lindsey Gort. The musical will run from 6 February (15) to 4 April (15) at a West Hollywood theatre to be confirmed. For the Record will mark the 30th anniversary of Hughes' Brat Pack movie The Breakfast Club. The Hughes tribute will simultaneously play in Chicago, Illinois - the director's home town.

Universal Pictures via Everett Collection
Is there anything as relatable and resonant as the coming-of-age film? Throughout our lives, select few of us will ever save the world, fall in love with a computer, or beat back an ape rebellion in blockbuster fashion. But almost everyone knows what it feels like to grow up. The joys, pain, wonders, and hard truths coupled with growing older are universally felt. The best films in the genre can make us feel like they have a direct line to our souls, and the experience of watching our own truths play out on screen is something special. In celebration of Boyhood, Richard Linklater's childhood epic 12 years in the making, our staff members share their favorite coming of age films, and why they mean so much to them.
The Breakfast Club, Julia EmmanueleI wasn't yet a teenager the first time I watched The Breakfast Club, but I still remember thinking that for the first time in my life, it felt like someone really understood what growing up was like. Whether it was the terror of growing up or their struggles to be who they wanted to be, rather than what their parents expected, or the facades they put up to fit in or keep other people out, I saw some of myself in every one of these characters; I still do, despite all the years that have passed since. And even though it never alleviated my fears about becoming an adult, it did give me five people who felt the same, and that’s been enough.
Thirteen, Cory MahoneyThirteen is probably the scariest movie of 2003. Co-written by 15-year-old Nikki Reed, the film opens with two 13-year-old girls high from huffing and hitting each other. Dealing with topics from teens cutting, partying, and sexual experimentation to parents with addictions and unconventional families (to say the least), the film was at once terrifying and relatable. The memorable lines ("No bra, no panties" or "The Itsy Bitsy Spider dropped acid in the park"), like this film, will always remain in my teen memories, whether I want them to or not.
Stand By Me, Jordan SmithThe saddest part in Stand by Me is that after that epic summer day filled with leech attacks, random deer, evil Keifer Sutherland, and boyhood intimacy, Richard Dreyfuss’ voiceover explains how the four main characters couldn’t stay friends forever. How life pulled them in different directions. It’s a brutal lesson to punctuate the film with, but a vital one. Life changes. It always does. It has to. But when you’re young, everything feels like forever. All those little moments and tiny tragedies felt so sacrosanct. I swore I’d know my childhood friends forever. Who knew years later, I’d be fumbling for their names.
City of God, Shannon HoustonWith the incredible non-linear storytelling, the stunning cinematography, and all of the gangsta stuff going down, it’s easy to forget that City of God is really a coming-of-age story. I connected on so many levels with Rocket when I was 17 years old and first saw the movie in theatres. Cleveland isn’t the City of God, but I was a budding artist hoping for a way out. Watching him defy the odds, risk his life, and use his talents as a photographer to tell an incredible story that mainstream journalism couldn't tell was both empowering and inspiring.
The Goonies, Cyndi CappelloI’ll always remember the first time I watched The Goonies. Not only did I have a massive crush on Mikey, but everything about the storyline pulled me in. The older I got and more times I watched it, the more it spoke to me. I kept to myself when I was younger, and seeing the amount of trust the characters had in each other made me want to find relationships like that more than anything. Seeing the bond develop between the variously aged characters from the beginning to end of the film made me realize that you can find friendships in anyone. Thanks to The Goonies, I realized that friends can truly become part of your family.
Breaking Away, Michael ArbeiterAppropriately enough for the theme, Breaking Away is probably the only film recommendation that my mother ever gave to me. Her suggestion of the flick was inspired by my preteen proclivity to speak exclusively in Spanish and Italian phrases around our non-Spanish/Italian-speaking household, but more substantially by the "aimless, big dreaming loser" motif that she knew I'd be able to empathize with. In its paradoxical erratic lull, Breaking Away is one of the best illustrations of the graduation from childhood that we've seen on the big screen... a sweet, sad, answer-less picture that appreciates what it means to have no idea what's next.
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The Breakfast Club star Ally Sheedy has added to her resume by becoming a volunteer teacher at LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts in New York. The actress is working with students, including Madonna's daughter Lourdes, to help them learn how to use cameras to perfect audition tapes.
She says, "I had a chance to work with the seniors on some theatre stuff... and I fell in love with the kids."
And Sheedy admits her students are only briefly starstruck by their famous teacher: "They saw (my movies), but there's all that for the first week, and then I start to annoy them."

Bravo
Beyond just sharing a city with Seinfeld, The Real Housewives of New York also shares a theme: it, too, is a show about nothing. There is a lot of sitting in restaurants, talking, and tons of rhetorical questions. What’s the deal with Ramona Singer? If this was any other franchise, Ramona aka Eye-Lander would be laughing maniacally on mountain of empty Pinot Grigio bottles. After all, she is the only one. The last surviving original New York Housewife.
The episode starts off so bland it makes rice cakes jealous. Heather Thomson stops by Carole Radziwill’s photo shoot. The original singer for Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem needs an author photo for the book she plugged last season. Heather is serving as her stylist. She also wants to assert her place as the most annoying backseat photographer in history. She annoys the poor photographer so much the woman literally tries to push Heather away. Holla!
Heather is having a birthday party and guess who’s invited? If you guessed the entire secretarial pool from Sean Jean’s 1998 sales team, you’d be right... and bored. Heather has dusted off her Rolodex to remind everyone she worked for P. Diddy. But everyone at the party is so dated and uncool they still call him Puffy. Her party is the first time all the ladies will be in the same room since the reunion.
Sonja Morgan shows up with her new boyfriend, Ben Benalloul. By new we mean 23 years young. Not only is she dating this Pretty Little Liars extra. Mrs. J.P. Morgan is also spending the hours of 2:00 to 2:45 AM with Aviva Drescher’s ex-husband Harry. Ben stumbles right into Kristen Taekman the new housewife. She gets her montage in the sun. She’s a wacky model, an absentee mother, and a trophy wife!
Back at the party, Aviva arrives in a flurry of black smoke. Ramona confesses she couldn’t see it but she felt “black smoke” all of a sudden. If you couldn’t see it... why does it have to be black? Apparently, when Countess LuAnn de Lesseps left the show a part of her soul went into Aviva. It was the horcrux LuAnn never intended to make. That must be why the entire group declared a fatwa on Aviva.
As expected, the Aviva apology tour goes horribly. She says she’s writing a book and asks Carole for help, which evolves into a passive aggressive assumption she’ll do the editing. She apologizes to Sonja and makes peace but Sonja is too drunk she thinks she’s Fran Drescher. Then she punches Ramona in the throat... okay, she doesn’t really, but you can tell that she thought about it. She apologizes to Ramona and references her age as a reason she should forgive Aviva.
The show takes a brief trip to Sonja’s House of Mysteries. How is this house being paid for? How can someone staff their entire house with unpaid interns working for college credit? Who keeps a dog under a red sheet on their mantle? Who is the battiest woman to ever be on Bravo? Sonja has her minions make tea for the girls. The afternoon quickly devolves into dissecting Sonja’s bad hostess skills and the question of how Ramona should handle Aviva. There is nice color commentary by Sonja’s spiritual guide, Ally Sheedy’s twin sister. Hardly Lucid. Apparently, Sonja has embraced a spiritual path since she has no other marketable skills.
Ramona decides to have drinks with Aviva. She tries to dress away the extra years in an outfit she picked up at Forever 21. The two bond over Ramona’s favorite activity: binge drinking. Apparently, "turtle time" is ancient Sanskrit for "alcoholism." The expression goes back to old cave paintings when early man actually drank out of turtles.
It looks like the season is going to be filled with tons of drama, batty ladies yelling, and Aviva flips her leg!
Cracks 5th Avenue: Best Lines of the Night
"When I see Ramona losing it, I’m like, she gets too Ramotional." – Sonja’s witty rambling
"For me, age is just a number. I went from 80 to 20 in six seconds. My ex is in his 80s and Ben’s in his 20s. People are ageless to me." – Sonja doesn't grasp irony
"Sonja has as many men as she has interns. And some of them are the same age." – Heather
"I think I need to write a book called I Love My Kids But This F**king Sucks." – Model parent Kristen
"What can I say, Big Ben. He’s the Big to my Bang." – Unused dialogue from Sonja’s toaster oven porno
"I mean, not only is she tall and pretty, but she’s weird. That’s like the hat trick of fun for me." – Carole about Kristen
"When you’re early I’ll start back up on the b***jobs." – Kristen’s feminist mission statement
"Aviva is a charmer. She’s suckin’ up my ass big time." – Ramona mixing metaphors
"The shot wasn’t bad. I’ve swallowed much worse." – Oh Aviva...
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This week’s edition of Leanne’s Spoiler List features five fanstastic shows that will make you giggle with excitement and gasp from all the amazing moments that will soon flood your TV screens. Let's get right into it and talk some trash about the season finales of Arrow and Psych, a great guest spot on The Middle, the premiere of Baby Daddy, and everyone's favorite serial killer drama Hannibal (well, at least until The Following comes back).
1. Arrow: Holy S**tballs!
This season on Arrow it's been one crazy roller coaster ride of awesomeness, and when the finale airs tonight be prepared to for your jaw to hit the floor and your heart to skip a beat. Star Stephen Amell — a.k.a. the world’s most wonderful human — promised me that we’re going to get a lot of character shifts in tonight’s episode, entitled “Sacrifice.”
“The neat thing about the finale is that so much of this season has just been with people with facades,” Amell explains. “Towards the last two episodes, all of those just melt away because danger is so perilously close. We get to see characters interacting in a way that they haven’t all season.”
Emily Bett Rickards, the amazing girl behind Team Arrow's IT expert Felicity Smoak, promises tonight’s hour is going to be even more action-packed than what we've seen so far... and who would have thought that was even possible? "It’s bigger than you can imagine. I don’t think I breathed [while] reading the script,"Rickards says with a smile. "There is so much going on...It’s exhausting. I hope you all sleep well after watching it." Nope. We’ll be too busy tweeting about it!
Rickards has been promoted to series regular for Season 2, so what can we expect to see from Felicity next year? "I expect to learn more about her outside lair life," Rickards predicts. "I think as a regular you have to see more of her as opposed to just being in the lair. She probably doesn’t leave the computer too often, but maybe she’s working out now, maybe she’s going on a few runs in her free time. She’s got to stay fit somehow!"
I’m currently doing a happy dance right now — and you should be too! Why? Well the fact that Rickards is coming back next season means that she survives tonight’s finale! Unfortunately, one character will not be so lucky. I know for a fact that one of our beloved Starling City residents is going to die in tonight’s finale, and while I cannot tell you who it is, I can leave you with these vague and ominous words from Stephen Amell: “Really crazy stuff is happening and no one is ever safe.”
2.Psych: A Game-Changing Finale
Hmm… I’m sensing that you would like me to give you some Psych spoilers from the show's Season 7 finale. So here goes! In two weeks — that’d be May 29 for all those without a calendar or simple mathematical skills — Psych’s season finale, “No Trout About It,” will see a new case alter the series as we know it.
This episode has everything! Murder, intrigue, new characters, snow cones, a high-speed chase, Shawn’s dad hitting on some random lady, and a member of the Brat Pack! That’s right Weird Science fans, '80s star Anthony Michael Hall guest stars in the finale as Harris Trout, an impeccably dressed yet extremely eccentric police consultant who is recruited by the mayor to help make the SBPD run more efficiently.
Believe me when I say this is one extremely odd fella — and that’s saying a lot since we’re talking about Psych, the leader in quirky TV characters. Fun fact: Hall’s appearance on the comedy makes him the the fourth member of the big screen’s “Brat Pack” to appear on Psych, following in the footsteps of Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, and Judd Nelson. Aww! All we need is Emilio Estevez and we’ll have the entire Breakfast Club as Psych alums!
Anyway, back to the episode. Shawn and Gus are called in to investigate a very special case involving the murder of a man who isn’t even dead yet. The victim has actually been poisoned and he comes to our dynamic duo for help on finding his killer — but of course things are not always what they seem and there are plenty of twists and turns along the way. I’ll leave you with this little nugget: This season ends on a huger than huge cliffhanger and the entire premise of the series could forever be changed. Dun dun duuuun!
3.Baby Daddy: A Change of Heart
Confession: I think ABC Family's Baby Daddy is hilarious. It’s quick-paced, filled with fun yet relatable characters, and features a baby that doesn’t talk (Lily from Modern Family is my nightmare).
Here’s what you can get excited for in Season 2 – which premieres Wednesday, May 29 bee tee dubs: Ben is kinda, sorta, totally into Riley, Riley is still super into Ben, Danny is dating a Russian supermodel, and Tucker’s dance moves have never been better. Oh, and Bonnie uses Emma as baby bait to hit on a man — but what else is new?
Throughout the Season 2 premiere, Ben is desperately trying to prove to Riley that he’s not “that guy” but unfortunately actions speak louder than words. Let’s just say that by the end of the second episode, there’s not one but three guys vying for Riley’s heart.
Luckily I will be having lunch with the cast next week so feel free to hit me up on Twitter and I will pass along all of your burning Baby Daddy questions!
4. Hannibal: Fit For a Fiddle
Fannibals will find Thursday night’s newest installment of Hannibal to be music to their ears. The episode, titled "Fromage," is anything but cheesy. Now, cheese may be everyone’s favorite thing (I’d like to think that’s a scientific fact), but everything is far from gouda in the lives of Will and Hannibal (sorry about the lame cheese pun).
First up, sexual tension is mounting between Will and a certain potential paramour and many questions will be addressed. Will there finally be a lip-lock between these two? And if so, how will it affect their friendship? The whole thing will have certain folks jumping for joy while others will worry about the potential fallout.
But keep in mind that Will isn’t the only one with secret admirers — Hannibal has one as well! Food for thought: Murderpeople are quite curious with the way they exchange secret messages. This week’s serial killer is fascinatingly grotesque and focuses on the one thing we know Hannibal respects above all: the arts. Also, a character we've known since the pilot will be fall victim to music's sweet sound.
But don’t get so baroque-n up about it (now a bad music pun), because the developments that follow the not-so-shocking-but-also-yes-totally-shocking death will lead the bromantical relationship between Hannibal and Will down a different path. All the mind games and manipulation have reached a breaking point, and there’s no way all of this can be wrapped up neatly with a bow. At least Will’s seemingly deteriorating mental state will make sure of that. Oh, and bonus points if you can spot the reference to Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs in this episode!
5.The Middle: Jack is Back!
When we bid adieu to 30 Rock earlier this year, it was a difficult time because I’ve absolutely adored seeing sweet-as-pie Kenneth on my TV screen each and every week. So you can imagine my excitement when I learned that Jack McBrayer would be guest starring on one of my favorite comedies: The Middle!
I had the extreme pleasure of chatting with McBrayer in anticipation of his hilarious role in tonight’s episode, “The Ditch,” and to answer your question: Yes, he is just as delightful as you would hope — and so is his new character. “I play dentist Dr. Goodman. He hires Frankie to work in his office and he’s kind of like a big man-child,” McBrayer says with a laugh.
Since McBrayer will be playing a dentist tonight, I made sure to ask him if he took and extra measures to make sure his chompers would be pearly white on camera. The actor exclaimed, “Why of course, Leanne! My teeth are like my bread and butter. They’re so big, so you can bet I made sure they were sparkling before I came to set.”
Just like Kenneth, Dr. Goodman is what we’d call a people-pleaser. McBrayer explains, “He’s not really one for confrontation so Frankie’s at times overbearing and mothering personality kind of pushes him over in the office.” Well, that’s a bit of an understatement! When Frankie alludes to a line full of people that she’s a doctor, she tries to keep up the charade and take charge of Dr. Goodman when one of the people she fibbed to shows up at the office. Yikes!
McBrayer’s character is very similar to his 30 Rock alter ego, meaning that he’s about as frightening as a basket full of kittens.Don’t believe me? Take a look at this clip from tonight’s episode to see his lack of ferocity for yourself!
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Who do you think will die on tonight’s Arrow finale? Excited to see Will get some action on Hannibal? Eager to see Jack McBrayer’s return to TV tonight on The Middle? Tell me everything in the comments below!
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MORE:Leanne’s Spoiler List: The Vampire Diaries, The Big Bang Theory and More! Leanne’s Spoiler List: Once Upon a Time, Arrested Development and More!Leanne’s Spoiler List: Glee, The Vampire Diaries and More!

Remember the days when Google was only for information and maps and connecting with people and looking up English-to-Latvian translations and finding pictures of Ally Sheedy? Well, that era is long gone. Now, the company is moving on to the next level — movies and TV, via the newest Google product: the Nexus 7. Deadline reports that the new home-entertainment device, similar in concept to the Kindle, will be able to provide content from studios including Disney, Sony, Paramount, and NBCUniversal, thanks to a deal with Google Play.
Google's first tablet, priced around $199 will run Google's new 4.1 "Jelly Bean" software, pack a front-facing camera, a 1280x800 resolution screen, and an Nvidia Tegra 3 processor. For pop culture enthusiasts, the Nexus 7 will also offer downloads and rentals of movies and television episodes and seasons produced by the aforementioned companies. With products like these, the entertainment industry is becoming more and more remote. Could this change the way films and envisioned, and in turn, actually made?
[Image Credit: Google]
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Apple Is the World: Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs, the Founder's Drug History &amp; More

This is it. The movie to end all movies. Remember WarGames? The 1983 thriller that paired global warfare with computer games? One of those movies you tell yourself you adamantly hate and yet will actually be late to parties, school, weddings, in order to finish watching every time you see it on TV? Well, a remake of WarGames is being deployed. I know that wordplay barely works, but I’m way too excited to be eloquent. There’s more good news.
This new WarGames is being directed by a man you’ve never heard of, but should have: Seth Gordon. Aside from the hilarity promised by his upcoming Horrible Bosses, his work with traditional films has been nothing to go to battle over (sorry, I'll cut it out), but his pride and joy was a 2007 documentary The King of Kong: a film all about people playing classic arcade games. Who ELSE could do justice to WarGames if not someone who has experienced firsthand how much videogames can take over human lives?!
But there’s more. You know Community and Parks and Recreation: those shows that are so good that none of your friends could possibly appreciate them, but you still try to convince every one of them to watch? You know Modern Family: that show that all your friends tell you is WAY better than those other two shows, and, although you vocalize your disagreement with fervor, you actually sort of begrudgingly agree that it is pretty funny? You know The Office, which you and your friends agree had a good run before it went sour? Well, Seth Gordon has directed episodes of EACH of these shows. Good episodes, too. This man cannot be stopped.
But can nuclear war ? That was the question in the original, where teens played by Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy fought to outsmart a government computer after they accidentally triggered it to launch nuclear weapons.
And now, when the threat of the end of the world is all the more palpable and computers are all the more terrorizing, and the director’s credits are all the more impressive, WarGames will be all the more of a cinematic blitzkrieg (had to fit one more in).
Source: Deadline

Wendie Malick, Fred Willard and Ally Sheedy were also among the guests at the star-studded 25th anniversary of the Farm Sanctuary, the leading farm animal protection organisation in the U.S.
The animal-loving stars dined on a three-course vegan dinner at the Cipriani Wall Street restaurant in Manhattan, before Roberts, Feldman and Sheedy all got up on stage to champion the vegan bosses behind the Farm Sanctuary.
Gene Baur, co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, says, "This is as much a celebration as a recognition that we are in the midst of a major awakening about the food we put in our bodies and what it means for the world around us.
"Twenty five years ago I couldn't have predicted the profound effect Farm Sanctuary would have on how our society views and treats farm animals. We still have a long way to go and events like this are important milestones on the road to renewing our empathy and compassion."

Returned to the Off-Broadway stage playing the lead role of a transsexual rock singer in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"

First film with Rob Lowe, "Oxford Blues"

Had breakout role as Allison, the basket case, in John Hughes' "The Breakfast Club"

Had a recurring role of a Catholic high school girl on "Hill Street Blues" (NBC)

Made Off-Broadway acting debut in "Advice From a Caterpillar"

Co-starred with Steve Guttenberg in the sci-fi comedy, "Short Circuit"

Wrote best-selling children's book, She Was Nice to Mice at age 12

Summary

Living in the spotlight after being pigeon-holed with an unfair label was no easy task for any actress, yet Gen-X favorite Ally Sheedy succeeded in breaking away from the pack. She first rose to fame as the mischievous teen who, along with computer nerd Matthew Broderick, almost starts WWIII in "WarGames" (1983) and as the misfit weirdo spending a day in detention in the John Hughes classic, "The Breakfast Club" (1985). Her next blockbuster vehicle was the post-college drama "St. Elmo's Fire" (1985), where she played a headstrong Gen-Xer who wants to live life to the fullest before settling into married life. All three films provided Sheedy with both instant fame and a membership in the so-called "Brat Pack," an exclusive clique of young, rich, and famous actors in the 1980s that included Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson and Rob Lowe, among many others. Apart from appearing together movies, they led lives of excess that epitomized the decade. Never comfortable with the label or lifestyle, Sheedy's career peaked in the '80s and she soon found herself mired in a dearth of second-rate movies and TV shows for much of the following decade. After many years of unforgettable roles, Sheedy came back strong with her award-winning portrayal of heroin-addict and photographer, Lucy Berliner, in the independent film "High Art" (1998). The role propelled Sheedy back into the limelight, earned her critical reviews, and eradicated any doubts about her abilities as a serious actress.<p>Alexandra Elizabeth Sheedy was born on June 13, 1962 in New York City and was the eldest of three children. Her father, John J. Sheedy, Jr., was an advertising executive and her mother, Charlotte, was a literary agent. With such a direct connection to the literary world, it was not surprising when at age 12, while still attending Bank Street School, Sheedy wrote the children's novel <i>She Was Nice to Mice</i> (1975) about a mythical encounter between Queen Elizabeth I and an inquisitive mouse named Esther Esther. Published by McGraw-Hill, the book became an instant bestseller and thrust the young novelist into the limelight. It was evident pretty early on that Sheedy had all the makings of a performer; from age six to 14, she danced with the American Ballet Theatre and spent many summers at Fire Island staging shows with her peers on back lawns and porches. Her teenage years revolved around dance, until Sheedy realized how strict her diet regimen would have to be just to be a dancer, so she shifted her focus to acting. The success of her novel brought in a flood of requests from publications such as <i>The Village Voice</i> for Sheedy to become a movie critic, and <I>The New York Times</i> who offered her a job as a children's books reviewer. She accepted an assignment from <i>Ms.</i> magazine to write an article about her mother and herself. It was while the 15-year-old was promoting her book on "The Mike Douglas Show" (CBS, 1961-1982) that she was spotted by an agent and signed. Now enjoying a new career path, the pretty brunette began appearing in After-School Specials, off-Broadway productions, and commercials for such clients as Burger King.<p>When she turned 18, Sheedy traveled to Los Angeles and studied drama at the University of Southern California. No sooner than she traded in her winter boots for flip-flops, the future Brat Packer landed minor roles in television dramas like "The Best Little Girl in the World" (ABC, 1981) starring Jennifer Jason Leigh as a girl secretly suffered from anorexia nervosa, the holiday made-for-TV movie "The Day the Loving Stopped" (USA, 1981), and "Homeroom" (ABC, 1981). In 1983, Sheedy's luck changed when she won a recurring role as a flirtatious Catholic schoolgirl who caught the attention of one of the cops on the hit drama "Hill Street Blues" (NBC, 1981-87). That same year, she made her feature film debut as Sean Penn's loyal girlfriend in "Bad Boys," a gritty look at urban Chicago street gangs, but more importantly, she co-starred in the cyber espionage thriller "WarGames" (1983) featuring Matthew Broderick as a teenage computer whiz who accidentally discovered a code to a secret military supercomputer. Sheedy played Broderick's girlfriend who helped him come up with the password to unlock the system before Russia and the U.S. most go to nuclear war. The film, directed by John Badham, was a massive summer hit and more than any project to date, put the actress on the map.<p>After playing mostly supporting roles, Sheedy won a career-defining role in the '80s cult classic "The Breakfast Club." Directed by John Hughes, the film focused on five teenagers who grapple with the prevailing notions of high school stereotypes. Forced to spend a day in detention, they bicker, dance, smoke pot, and gradually reveal their innermost secrets to each other. It brought together an ensemble cast of young actors that included Emilio Estevez as the overachieving jock, Judd Nelson as the rebellious thug, teen queen Molly Ringwald as the popular snob, and Anthony Michael Hall as the nerd who gives the newly-formed group the name "The Breakfast Club." Sheedy played the loner and perhaps the most misunderstood of them all, mainly because she spoke very little, except for the random outbursts and unexpected squeaks. Clad in all black, Sheedy provided much-needed comic relief during the film's more tense moments, including revealing that she actually volunteered to be in detention for lack of something better to do, and partaking of her favorite lunch, the Captain Crunch and Pixie Stick sandwich, which hundreds of teenagers actually emulated after the film's release.<p>On a roll, Sheedy co-headlined the Joel Schumacher-directed film "St. Elmo's Fire" about a group of seven Gen-X friends who struggle with their lives and loves after college. She played the straight-laced Leslie Hunter, who while dating the ambitious political aide Alec Newbury (Judd Nelson) and learns he has cheated on her with a lingerie model, is drawn to her more sensitive friend Kevin Dolenz (Andrew McCarthy). Unlike the arty, loner character of "The Breakfast Club," Sheedy as Leslie showed more gumption a young woman determined to develop a strong sense of self before settling down and having children with possibly the wrong partner. Co-starring Demi Moore, Robe Lowe, Mare Winningham and Emilio Estevez, "St. Elmo's Fire" became yet another Generation-X touchstone. Save for Winningham, the combined cast of both movies was dubbed by <i>New York Magazine</i> as the "Brat Pack," a celebrated circle of young actor friends who not only often appeared together in their teen-centric movies, but also excessively partied, became the epitome of cool, and often dated amongst themselves. The exclusive clique led a charmed life, but it did not last long.<p>Most Brat Packer careers stalled in the next decade, some succumbed to substance abuse, and friendships quickly eroded. Perhaps the most painful was Sheedy's falling out with close pal Moore; reports were rampant that Moore's emerging sex-symbol status disturbed Sheedy but nothing was ever confirmed. Prior to their split, the two were such good friends that Sheedy was a bridesmaid when Moore wed Bruce Willis in 1987, and it was Moore, a former cocaine addict, who staged an intervention for Sheedy in 1989 when she had reportedly become addicted to sleeping pills after dating Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora. Before her career went downhill in the 1990s, Sheedy enjoyed a few final leading roles in minor hits, such as the classic comedy "Short Circuit" (1986) as a young woman who bonds with an experimental military robot named Number 5, and in the comedy "Maid to Order" (1987) as a wealthy, twenty-something woman who, with the help of a unique "fairy godmother," is forced to clean other people's homes to learn life lessons. She reunited with "Breakfast Club" co-star, Ringwald, in the romantic comedy "Betsy's Wedding" (1990), playing Ringwald's tough and embittered older sister.<p>The 1990s saw the talented actress appearing in mostly straight-to-video films and second-rate cable thrillers. Sheedy felt the pressure and tried to shake off the "Brat Pack" label to get better, more adult roles, but movie executives were not easily convinced that she had more to offer. She came close to nabbing the lead in several hit movies such as "A League of Their Own" (1992), but was not cast because she could not play baseball well enough. After years of uninspiring roles, Sheedy made her comeback in 1998 playing a middle-aged, lesbian drug-addict in the Sundance award-winning film "High Art," a riveting movie about the reclusive SoHo photographer Lucy Berliner and her tumultuous affair with an art magazine intern (Radha Mitchell). When asked how she prepared for the emotionally challenging role, Sheedy - who had battled drug addiction and eating disorders herself - told <i>The New York Times</i>, "I felt so close to the material that I figured the less I did, the better." Sheedy earned several nominations and awards for her role in the critically acclaimed film, including an Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead in 1999.<p>With her status as a serious and more mature actor assured, Sheedy landed juicier roles including that of a lonely production designer in "Sugar Town" (1999) and a quirky blind date in the romantic comedy "I'll Take You There" (1999). She also took on another gender-bending role in the off-Broadway rock opera "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" (1999), about a fictional rock band fronted by a German transsexual singer. She was the first female to play the part of the transgender Hedwig (originated by John Cameron Mitchell on stage and in the 1999 feature film), but her stint was cut short by an onslaught of bad reviews. Television - particularly of the sci-fi nature - also provided steady work in the 2000s for the versatile actress. She had a guest role in 2003 on "The Dead Zone" (USA Network, 2002-07) starring "Breakfast Club" co-star Hall, played a murderous UFO cult member in a 2007 episode of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (CBS, 2000- ), and had a featured role on the drama "Kyle XY" (ABC, 2006-09). In 2009, she starred in the drama "Ten Stories Tall" about two New York families forced to reconcile as they cope with the death of the family matriarch.<p><i>By Candy Cuenco</i>

Name

Role

Comments

Charlotte Baum

Mother

Divorced from Sheedy's father in 1971; Involved in women's and civil rights movements; Came out as a lesbian to Sheedy in 1980